


We Dug Coal Together

by wildchildmonaghan (codenamemoony)



Category: Justified
Genre: Gen, boys in mines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-02
Updated: 2017-03-02
Packaged: 2018-09-27 20:25:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10047278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/codenamemoony/pseuds/wildchildmonaghan
Summary: A flashback that happens when Boyd Crowder lays eyes on Raylan Givens for the first time in a long time. Obviously, set in 1x01.





	

“IT’S COLLAPSING! GET OUT!”

It’s the last thing he hears before he sets to bolting, head low to keep the lantern on the ground, watching his step as he flies out, nearly tripping over a body. It takes him a half beat before he realizes he knows the body- it’s Arlo Givens’ boy, Raylan. He takes a breath, then stoops, trying to haul the older boy to his feet, Raylan coming to and working to scramble up. 

They aren’t what you think of when you hear of best friends. They are boys born to families that hate each other, and yet, here in this hole in the ground, they have gotten close. They eat and laugh, and on late nights, they drink. And now, as they stumble out of the hole as it’s coming down, Boyd finds himself worrying that it could all be over.

They reach the mouth just as the explosion reaches the air, propelling the boys foreward and sending the other men at the mouth flying as well. The air is muffled because of the blast, Boyd rolling his head as he tries to find the shape he’d run out with. One second, he’s holding onto Raylan’s hand like his own is a damn vice, and the next, they’re blown apart, and he isn’t.

The men are calling out to friends, their foreman, making sure that the crew made it out and as the Crowder boy gets to his feet, the panic floods his chest, still unable to find Raylan. Then he hears it, and he’s running before it can occur to him that he shouldn’t be behaving this way. His arms are tight around the taller boy in an instant, and Raylan is hugging him just as hard, a hand on the back of his head, breathing heavily and laughing a bit as Boyd repeats in a frenzy of panic and simultaneous relief. 

“Raylan… Raylan, Raylan, Raylan… you’re okay, oh shit, Raylan…”

“You saved my life, Boyd Crowder…”

“Couldn’t leave you in there… you’re the only friend I got, Raylan Givens.”

“Ain’t nothing gonna change that one, I promise you that.”

 

Seeing that town car, and the man that steps out brings it flooding back. This life ain’t the one he’d pictured at 19, working in the coal mines and drinking ‘shine with his best friend, but the reluctant smile on the handsome Marshal’s face is the same as it was all those years ago. His voice holds a lilt of amusement as he calls a greeting, smile broad on his face and arms outstretched to welcome his prodigal brother in arms home. 

“Look at you! A suit, a necktie. Lookin’ good! Lookin’ like a lawman.”

The embrace is short, a different breed than the one they shared the day the mine exploded, but he feels the beat of Raylan’s heart and sees the soul in those same hazel eyes as Devil pops off about something or another, earning a dismissal and reminder that right now, his boss wants time with his boy.

He’s not sure how the next little bit is going to go, but for a second, walking up the stairs, hand on Raylan’s back… they’re kids cracking jokes while they dig coal.

For a second, his diversion from the path he'd planned doesn't matter, because his friend is home and smiling that crooked smile and everything is good again.

 


End file.
